Pfadt C5 Super Stock Sway Bar Kit

[Autoxer]

Does anyone know what how the stiffness of this bar compares to the stock C5 Z06 bar?

I would like an adjustable bar that can be set close to the stock bar settings.

[Josh]

The Pfadt SS Sway bar Package is about 10% stiffer then the C5 Z06 front bar. This package only includes the front bar so it is legal for SCCA's SS class.

The range of adjustment for this bar is from 30% softer to 50% stiffer then the C5 Z06 bar.

We have had a few people running these bars in Super Stock in their C5 Z06 with great success!

Please do not hesitate to give us a call if you have any questions!

[froggy47]

I looked at the bar picture on Pfadt site & I'd like a bit more explanation on how the adjustment works.

My (limited) experience with sway bars is that that you vary the stiffness of the bar with the size & material that the bar is made of.

Then you use the adj. end links (after setting ride height & corner weight) to make sure there is no pre load on the bar.

It appears that your adjustment is to preload/unload the bar.

This would change your corner weights & (possibly) ride height.

Is that correct or have I got it all wrong?

Thanks.

[Autoxer]

Does anyone know how the Pfadt Super Stock bar compares in stiffness to the Adco 32mm hollow bar?

[weirdpanda]

Edit: never mind

[acrace]

Originally Posted by froggy47

I looked at the bar picture on Pfadt site & I'd like a bit more explanation on how the adjustment works.

My (limited) experience with sway bars is that that you vary the stiffness of the bar with the size & material that the bar is made of.

Then you use the adj. end links (after setting ride height & corner weight) to make sure there is no pre load on the bar.

It appears that your adjustment is to preload/unload the bar.

This would change your corner weights & (possibly) ride height.

Is that correct or have I got it all wrong?

Thanks.

I was going to enter an explanation of the effects of a lever arm, but the sway bar entry from wikipedia does a pretty good job. Excerpted:

A sway bar is usually a torsional spring that resists body roll motions. It is usually constructed out of a U-shaped piece of steel that connects to the body at two points, and at the left and right sides of the suspension. If the left and right wheels move together, the bar just rotates about its mounting points and does not bend. If the wheels move relative to each other, the bar is forced to twist.

The bar resists the bending through its stiffness. The stiffness of an anti-roll bar is based on the fourth power of its diameter, the stiffness of the material, the inverse of the length of the lever arms (i.e., the shorter the lever arm, the stiffer the bar), the geometry of the mounting points, and the rigidity of the bar's mounting points. Some anti-roll bars, particularly those intended for use in auto racing, are adjustable, allowing their stiffness to be altered by increasing or reducing the length of the lever arms. This permits the roll stiffness to be tuned for different situations without replacing the entire bar. The stiffer the bar, the more force required to move the left and right wheels relative to each other. This increases the amount of force required to make the body roll.

[froggy47]

Originally Posted by acrace

I was going to enter an explanation of the effects of a lever arm, but the sway bar entry from wikipedia does a pretty good job. Excerpted:

A sway bar is usually a torsional spring that resists body roll motions. It is usually constructed out of a U-shaped piece of steel that connects to the body at two points, and at the left and right sides of the suspension. If the left and right wheels move together, the bar just rotates about its mounting points and does not bend. If the wheels move relative to each other, the bar is forced to twist.

The bar resists the bending through its stiffness. The stiffness of an anti-roll bar is based on the fourth power of its diameter, the stiffness of the material, the inverse of the length of the lever arms (i.e., the shorter the lever arm, the stiffer the bar), the geometry of the mounting points, and the rigidity of the bar's mounting points. Some anti-roll bars, particularly those intended for use in auto racing, are adjustable, allowing their stiffness to be altered by increasing or reducing the length of the lever arms. This permits the roll stiffness to be tuned for different situations without replacing the entire bar. The stiffer the bar, the more force required to move the left and right wheels relative to each other. This increases the amount of force required to make the body roll.

OK.

So you change the LENGTH of the end links to make the bar stiffer/or less stiff in a typical adj bar.

Looking at the Pfadt bar, it looks like the link SLIDES to & away from the center of the bar. So it increases/decreases the overall length of the bar. Is that correct (Pfadt vendor?)

[Josh]

The end links are adjustable length so that you can easily remove any pre-load from the sway bar. The stiffness or rate of the sway bar is adjusted by moving the end link mounting point on the sway bar. There are three holes on the front and four holes on the rear to choose from. As the end link is moved from the inside towards the end of the aluminum arm the sway bar becomes softer.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.